U.S. Coal Consumption Plummets to 40 Year Low

Total U.S. coal consumption is expected to fall to its lowest level in nearly 40 years, according to a report by the federal Energy Information Agency, or EIA. The use of coal by the U.S. power sector will drop by 4 percent, or 691 million short tons for 2018. The EIA wrote in a blog post published on Dec. 4, that the drop "in coal consumption since 2007 is the result of both the retirements of coal-fired power plants and the decreases in the capacity factors, or utilization, of coal plants as increased competition from natural gas and renewable sources have reduced coal's market share." Last week, S&P Global Market Intelligence reported that coal plant closings doubled in President Trump's second year in office, despite his repeated pledge to "end the war on coal." Read more...